Ireland - All About the Bikes

After 15 posts on our trip to Ireland last fall, what else could I possibly have to share about this trip...

Well a few folks have asked about our bikes and other gear. So I'll just do one final post all about the bikes.

Ireland - Duckett's Grove Under Sunshine

Saturday was our last full day in Ireland. Our flight out of Dublin was scheduled for early Sunday morning, so we'd need to clean, disassemble and pack bikes the night before. Of course, we also needed to get back to Dublin. Fortunately, chauffeur-extraordinaire, David, was ever-accommodating!

Ireland - Carlow

For us, no trip to Ireland would be complete without a journey down to Carlow. While John grew up in Dublin, his parents were from County Carlow. He, along with his brothers and sisters spent many a summer working and playing at his grandparent's farm. Most of his extended family still live in County Carlow and John's sister, Daphne bought a house there a few years ago, and extended an invitation for us to come stay whenever we'd like. She may grow to regret that.

Ireland - The Sally Gap

Since we'd been hitching lifts with David for a couple of days, when he was called back into work in Dublin, we found ourselves back on the east coast as well.

I really can't complain though. The sun was out and the winds were calm.

Now while I had managed to get down to Blessington a couple times during the week that John was working, John had not yet gotten out to ride his favorite old local roads himself and was eager to head down that way.

Ireland - Slieve League Cliffs

In our desperate quest to have a day of cycling without rain, we were again lured north by the fiction foisted upon us as a weather forecast. So yet again, we loaded up the car and drove north, this time aiming for the fishing port of Killybegs, gateway to the rugged coastline of southern Donegal. 

Sadly, David also got word that he might be needed to work in Dublin the following day. So we feared this might be our last day on the road together. Therefore we decided to try to take in two of the landmarks that for John are symbolic of Donegal, the Glengesh Pass and the Slieve League Cliffs.

Ireland - Sligo (Yeat's Country)

I admit it. I was starting to grow weary of the rain. I looked at the weather forecast, and determined that we'd need to head up to Northern Ireland if we held out any hope of getting photos without puddles. I fired off another email to our friend, Constance Winters, to see if her schedule had freed up any, but she was still swamped. So we didn't even have a proper excuse to cross the border. 

However, since David had joined us and we had access to his car, we decided to take advantage and hit a few of the farther flung areas that normally would us take a few days to even get to by bike or train. And we'd just get good use of out of our rain gear.

Ireland WETport

--Just a reminder for those seeing this in December or January, that I'm way behind with the blog and making every attempt to get caught up with these posts from our trip to Ireland. This is about a ride from November 1.--

All Saints Day in WETport and the Halloween trick is on us!

David had finished up his work in Bellmullet in County Mayo on  Friday and drove down to Westport to join us for a few days of cycling. As we discussed various route options and the weather, and the prospect of riding with or without gear, we decided to stay a second night in Westport, allowing us to do an unencumbered loop ride on Saturday, with some hope of drying out gear from the previous day.

Ireland - Clifden to Westport

We had planned to ride the Sky Road out of Clifden, but the access road right out of town was filled with construction vehicles and closed off.  The Sky Road is an 11 km loop around the peninsula just west of town, climbing up to the ridge-line for a while to provide stunning views of the 12 Bens. It was pretty clear to us that there would be no views at all today, so we didn't bother trying to sneak around the construction zone. Next visit.

Ireland - Cong to Clifden

You wouldn't think you could get lost leaving a tiny little village like Cong, but still we managed it.

When touring, we'll often plan out our intended route for the day - first using our paper maps for the big picture and then actually plotting out the route on the computer using software like RideWithGPS (if we have internet, or Mapsource if we don't). Having a route downloaded onto a GPS means we don't have to stop so frequently to check maps,  especially handy here where we're often faced with a mishmash of tiny little roads, and the signs at the crossroads point not to the large village that is our planned lunch stop or overnight stop, but rather just the next little crossroads a kilometer or so away. And sometimes signs pointing different ways show the same name - a low road and a high road - as it were. The GPS is also really useful in Ireland since we don't have to constantly pull out our paper maps in the rain, meaning they stay dry and in one piece. Since we each have a GPS, it also means that one of us can stop to take a nature break or photos or whatever and the other can keep cycling without too much fear of getting separated for too long.

Ashford Castle

Ireland - Anthenry to Ross Friary and Cong

We knew when we planned a trip to Ireland in late autumn that our fenders and rain gear would likely get lots of use. And indeed, the weather we encountered this year did not let us down in that regard!

The very wet and dreary forecast for Tuesday seemed to suggest that we stay indoors and work on the blog. Well obviously that didn't happen! Instead we took the train into Dublin city center for some off-bike fun. Our first stop really should have been to get some welly-boots, but instead we made a bee-line for espresso.

Ireland - Rolling Hills of County Meath

John claims that I have silly superstitions about weather. He fails to acknowledge that he inspired many of them, with all his talk about Irish weather. It was John who taught me things like it will stop raining only after everyone in the group has stopped to put on a jacket. Then the sun comes out making those jackets more like saunas, but it will start to rain again if anyone dares to stop and remove the sweat-inducing garment.  If you ask John when is the best time to go to Ireland for a bike tour, he will tell you September - after school is back in session - because when he was a lad, the weather always improved after his summer holidays ended. He told me that the worst weather inevitably occurs on holidays, with St. Patrick's Day traditionally having some of the most epic conditions.

The riverside bike path made for a pleasant way to leave Drogheda.

Ireland - Ballykissangel

On Sunday, we took advantage of David's car to do a ride in eastern Wicklow, with a remote start. This meant we wouldn't have to spend half the ride battling with traffic, as it is now much trickier to cycle to and from that area than in the halcyon days of John's youth. 

Creature comforts.

Ireland - Hill of Tara

At last, Saturday arrived and my week of cycling solo was finally over. No more riding with just my imagination for company. John was now officially on vacation and ready to join me on rides and head off on a tour. His work computer had been powered down and packed away. Maps and bicycles would now capture his attention instead. 

Ireland - Blessington

On the first full day of my first trip to Ireland, back in 1993, John took me out to a lovely tea room called the Skillet Pot in Blessington. Ah yes, I remember it well.

That trip to Ireland was essentially our third date. The first date had been an all day tandem ride followed by a quiet dinner for two away from the PAC Tour crowds near the end of that tour. Our second date, a few weeks later, was a weekend in New York City, where John had a long layover, as he made his way back home to Ireland.

As randonneurs, it appears our dates span the time frame of a brevet! 

One of the many locks on the towpath

Ireland - Tailwind!

Don't be so naive! There is no such thing as a tailwind! 

Experienced cyclists know that there are three states of being with regard to wind: headwinds, crosswinds, and I'm having a good day! We all know that after all the effort one expends pushing into a brutal headwind, the return journey is never the reward it should be. You might not have to work as hard, but it's never a case of just being able to sit up and coast home. The tease of a forthcoming tailwind is a cruel one. So rather than constantly being disappointed, experienced cyclists soon come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as a tailwind. As further evidence, no cyclist has ever credited a tailwind for their ranking on a strava segment. Headwinds may slow you down, but if you ride faster, it's down to your skill and training and fitness!